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Fashion Blog (Archive): February 2004
Thursday, February 12, 2004
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
11:05 AM (Pacific)
Hmmm...well, the trick with Old Navy or The Gap is to first hit the rack at the back of the store. You never know.
One very good thing about being average size, is that you have much, much more clothing choices. You can wear small, medium and big sizes and it all fits.
If you'll be near an Old Navy/Gap in March, then definitely check them out. If you find something you like, at a good price, then buy as much of it as you can.
You can always order ON/Gap online later on, if you want more of it or if it goes on sale online.
Target is not bad. Mossimo is good. Cherokee can be good too.
I have not looked much at the Land's End stuff at Sears. When I went, I looked briefly...kinda expensive...but then they might have sales too.
Do you have outlet malls anywhere close to you?
I myself, loathe shopping in general. So, I try to figure out what's good and the best place in which to buy it. If it's what I want and the price is right, I have no problem buying tons of it, so that I won't have to go shopping again anytime soon. :)
About color...I also found it a lot easier to have everything black, white, grey, yadda yadda... But color is like a game. If you play it badly, it looks tacky. If you play well, it can be transforming.
Oh...I don't buy silk these days. Unfortunately. Everything has to be machine washable and I don't iron anymore. I still have good clothes from my office days...I doubt I'll have to buy anything new there...actually...I'd love to have a job where you don't have to dress up. That's my dream job.
Keep us posted on what you decide to get, k?
--J.
Saturday, February 07, 2004
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
6:51 AM (Pacific)
I agree, new clothes are definitely something I need.
I've been cleaning out my closet and dresser drawers getting rid of everything that doesn't fit anymore or that I just don't like or don't wear. I'm down to only the bare minimum of clothing.
Color. Between clothing and makeup, I've realized I'm afraid of color. I stick to the basics in neutral colors for a couple of reasons.
Its easy. I don't have to think about getting dressed or doing my makeup. Black goes with everything ,white goes with everything, neutral makeup goes with everything. Its fast. Its cheap. Did I mention, I don't have to think? :)
I also think my weight had/has a lot to do with my clothing choices. I didn't want to call a lot of attention to myself 'cause I had let myself go so badly. Black can hide a multitude of sins, as can elastic waist pants. :)
Now its gonna be a where am I going to shop? My pickin's around here are really pathetic. The nearest Gap and Old Navy are 30 miles from here. I usually go to O.N. when I visit my parents, but we aren't going down there until March. I'm not sure I like O.N. that much anyways. The clothes seem more suited for juniors and I'm not fond of having OLD NAVY splashed across my chest all the time. We do have a Target. I looooooove Target. I was there yesterday with the kiddos and noticed they have a new spring/summer collection coming out, "Linden Hill"? or something like that. I didn't dare drag us all into the ladies clothing department but as I passed I noticed nice colors and fabrics anyways. I've always liked their Mossimo clothing and their Cherokee brand is cheap and decent quality for the price. I don't really care for the new guy, Issack somebody. Its awful loud, bright and gaudy for me, but there were a few pieces in his winter collection that caught my eye so ya never know.
I've been requesting loads of clothing catalogs all week so I'm hoping maybe to find something that way too.
I'm thinking-
2 pair of jeans
1 pair of khakis
T-shirts: colors and white. I also want some tanks and camis for the summer.
shorts: denim, khaki, black. Purple? I love your purple/color combos,Raphaelle.
maybe some capris? I saw a picture of a striped boatneck tee with cropped pants. I loved the look, very Audrey Hepburn. (I think thats who it was.)
1 nice dress Black-have
1 summer fun dress- I already have a couple, but its always fun to look for new ones.
Yeah, I'm going to investigate your Olive Green, Jose. I had a pair of olive green silk pants from Target last summer. I loooooved them until the butt seam frayed out on me. I paired them with a brown ON baby tee and loved how it looked. It kinda hinted at military, I may play with that look abit this summer too.
Thanks, ladies! You've given me lots of food for thought.
~carol m~
Friday, February 06, 2004
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
5:18 PM (Pacific)
OxyClean? I'll have to remember that. :)
Hmmm... I think some new clothing items are in order though. Even if the OxyClean does the trick.
I'm really spoiled out here. San Francisco is still one of the best places to find clothes. Los Angeles is too but I think their style is different. SF is colder all around so there's more variety, less of a tropical feel...there is the influence still of those grizzled East Coast expatriates (why is that always a phrase to me?).
In short I just have so much clothes it's a hard sell to justify me buying any more for a while. But I think some nice items in rich, strong colors would do ya good.
--J.
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
12:10 PM (Pacific)
Hey, I'd missed the postings here! For the white clothes, if it's plain old cotton T-shirts that don't mind hot water, try OxyClean. I've left some white Ts to soak in really hot water (as hot as tap water can get) with maybe triple the amount of OxyClean that the tub says to use. I figured the T-shirts weren't wearable anyway so I might as well try. They came out looking great! Very white.
For the dog and cat hair on the pants problem, jeans are good. The hair doesn't usually grab well on it. But you could also buy black or any colour pants. You just need a different material. Not wool (that's the worst for picking up hairs) and cotton can be iffy. You need something synthetic and "swishy". You know, something that makes a bit of a swish sound when you walk. The material won't have a perfectly matte texture but at least, it won't pick up the hairs...
Colour. Why were we talking about colour? I forget but Carol, it sounds like you like a lot of the same colours as me. I love all reds, blues, and purples. And no, you are not too old for baby blue. Maybe too old for Barbie pink but then, I figure anyone who has stopped playing with Barbies is too old for Barbie pink... You could try pink. It looks good on me. But then, you don't sound like much of a "pink" person. For yellow, try a straw colour. I find that works OK for me. Otherwise, yellow is hard and orange impossible unless you're dealing with peach.
Do consider purple pants too. Deep purple. You could do a monochromatic look by wearing some other shade of purple. Or you could wear your basic white, grey or black with it. You could also be daring and combine it with a raspberry, a pastel green or straw yellow... Maybe light blue too. Or a medium blue.
And if there's a colour you love but can't wear, consider getting pants or a skirt in that colour. What's important is that the colour on top work well with your colouring.
Raphaelle
Thursday, February 05, 2004
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
10:27 AM (Pacific)
Hmmm...
I use Tide With Bleach. I can't use regular Tide. Somehow the whites get crappy when I do that.
And I loathe Clorox. In my naive laundry-doin' days, I used to put Clorox in sometimes. And no matter what I did...put the Clorox in first, fill the washer, let it agitate, yadda yadda...I ended up with bleach spots on something. And bleach destroys your clothes if you keep using it.
Tide With Bleach is pretty good but it's not perfect either. For me it's a good balance though.
Sometimes you can Google it...try searching for rust laundry stain water white...keywords like that.
I was surprised to find a few things online. Like how to clean your glass ceramic stovetop with a razor blade. How to wash your down comforter in the washing machine. There's a site where you can calculate paychecks. Lots of stuff on the Net.
On the other hand...any time you get a Windows blue screen of death...you can sometimes find people asking about the same error on different forums. But you seldom find any answers.
Anyhow...colors. :) That's great, good analysis.
I think you are a little like me. I've stuck with black, white and grey for a very long time. Everything goes with everything...pick 2 black socks and put them on, right?
But color can be a good thing. It just has to be the right colors.
So...from your list...
1.) deep red, dark red
2.) possibly deep yellow (I also look like crap in the wrong yellow, it's tricky)
3.) green...maybe sage green (or blue green?) How bout olive?
4.) blue, definitely
5.) purple--lavender or deep dark purple
6.) brown
As well as black, white and grey.
Hummm...I stand by my original recs. Old Navy/The Gap, have a lot of clothes in these colors. I also prefer these types of strong colors rather than pastels.
Target is not as good...if you're looking for quality, that's not the place. If you're looking for a cheap thrill though it's good.
Mmmm...I would try finding the laundry solution first. But I would branch out in my wardrobe some. :)
--J.
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
6:54 AM (Pacific)
What colors do I like?
oh boy, that is a hard one. I've never really thought of colors. That sounds horribly odd, doesn't it?
Black. Any color, as long as its black. That's been my philosophy for ages and ages, decades really.
I'm thinking I can still do black tops. Those don't seem to get as "hairy" as black pants do.
Red- I like darker reds, wines, burgundys, russets. I don't do bright "Target" red.
Orange or any variation of it, no, I look nasty in orange.
Yellow- maybe. depends on the shade, i tend to look sallow and washed out in yellows.
Green- hmmmmmm. Possibly. yellow-greens make me look pukey. maybe a nice soft sage green?
Blue- yes. I like blue, any shade of blue from baby to navy. Although I think I'm getting too old for baby blue. Navy has always looked good on me.
Purple. Loooooooove purple. I'm a purple girl. Lavender or deep, dark purple, those mid/medium/bright purples dont' do anything for me.
I also like grey, silver to dark. Oh and brown, I have discovered I really like browns. Tans to coffee.
I'm going to have to find a way to keep our nasty water from discoloring white shirts. We've got a ton of rust/iron in our water, it stains all of our white clothing. I don't know if I can live w/o the simplicity of plain white tees worn with jeans and khakis. White tank tops with shorts in the summer, tees in the winter with a cardigan or flannel shirt. Thats ME. ME. ME. ME.
Damn water.
Surely it will be easier to figure out a laundry solution than to try and rehaul the heart and soul of my clothing wardrobe?
~carol m.~
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
1:12 PM (Pacific)
Hummm...
I vote for the jeans. But that's also because I wear jeans all the time myself. :)
I'll wear any color jeans except white! I love white but it doesn't work when you have young children around.
So, I have...lessee...black jeans, regular blue jeans, light blue jeans, dyed jeans...that's it. No special colors really.
I'd love to get a pair of olive green pants though. It's one of my favorite colors. I'm just too lazy to actually go out and get such pants. I have enough jeans to last...maybe when they start wearing out, I'll get some.
Khaki is a lovely color but again, not as practical as denim for me.
Once you have the pants in place (so to speak :) ), then you can get the tops. That's my opinion. Pants are really key. You can fudge on the tops.
Tops...how bout Old Navy? Or The Gap? Yes, I do head for that rack in the back first. The marked-down stuff. Or you could go to an ON or Gap outlet, that works too.
Target is another option...naaaaoowwww, the colors...
Colors are very important. Give it some thought. What colors do you really like?
I mean, say you were standing in front of a rack of shirts of many different colors. You can pick only three shirts. Which colors would you pick?
For me...I would pick an olive green one :) Or some kind of green...I have some blue-green tops that look really nice.
And a dark red one. Not dark-dark red, but a deep red color.
And, a yellow one. I prefer deep yellow, almost gold. But definitely yellow, not gold.
I would not pick blue. I wear blue pants but I never think of wearing blue tops. The closest I have is this super dark, almost black, blue sweater. And I have a blue Gap top I got for cheap. :)
I would not pick bright red. I actually own a bright red sweater and it's nice, but not what I reach for every day.
I would not pick purple. Purple is a lovely color...especially dark purple. I just wouldn't pick it.
I would not pick orange. I just don't like orange.
I like black, white, grey, yadda yadda...I could conceivably pick black for one of the shirts.
Anyhow do this mental exercise. Get a feel for what you really like, what you're really looking for.
Then start with the pants...get your pants in place.
Then tackle the shirts.
Anyhow that's what I think...let's see what the fashion maven has to say...
--J.
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at
11:41 AM (Pacific)
I need a new base color to my wardrobe other than black.
With a big black and white furry dog and two hairballs on legs that in someother life were cats, I can no long wear black. Well, I can but I look like a hairball myself after about 30 seconds of stepping outside my bedroom door. I need all new clothes aways. I almost totally lost my pants at the dentist office the other day. One of these days they are going to end up down around my ankles. Whats good other than black?
Probably denim.
Khaki, maybe? I love khaki pants or jeans paired with plain white tees. 'Cept I can't wear white anymore either. Our well water trashes white clothing.
Whats left?
Jeans, khaki's and an assortment of colored tees, I suppose.
~carol m~
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